Bloating is a very uncomfortable issue which affects a surprisingly large number of people. It looks and feels unpleasant and even though it’s temporary if it happens frequently you should definitely do something about it. Here are a few tips which can help you flatten your stomach starting today.

Say bye-bye to belly bloat with these 5 simple tips

Decrease Salt

We all eat salt, it’s a necessary component of our everyday meals. But excess salt in your diet will make your body retain water and lead to an imbalance of salt and water in your body. What happens next? You get bloated.

If you eat lots of frozen prepackaged foods, fast food, snacks and similar products you’re probably ingesting more sodium than you should. Adding salt to everything you eat is also another way you could be taking in too much salt. Stored carbohydrates hold three times the water that protein does, so if you are eating a lot of pasta reduce the amount of carbs and add more protein instead.

Drink Water

You should increase the amount of water you drink on a daily basis. Drinking water releases stored cellular fluid and this means a flatter tummy! If your body is slightly dehydrated, it’s literally crying out for water. It needs that water for every single process in it performs, so it holds onto it because it does not know when it will have enough again. If this is the reason why your belly bloats, drinking a few more glasses of water will restore your flat belly. You should drink a minimum of half your body weight in ounces. For example, if you weight 120 lbs, drink a minimum of 60 ounces daily.

Stop Chewing Gum

If you chew gum all the time you swallow a lot of air in the process and this leads to bloating. You are filling your stomach with air just as if you were blowing up a balloon. Things get worse if you’re into sugar free gums, see the section about fake sugar below.

Stop the Fizz

Carbonated drinks are the worst when it comes to bloating. These bubbles stay in your GI tract and become trapped and gas builds up. If you suffer from bloating often your best choice of action is to give up all kinds of sodas, diet ones as well.

Skip Fake Sugar

All artificially sweetened products be it chewing gums, diet sodas, candies and even protein bars, contain sugar substitutes, sugar alcohols or even natural products that can create excess gas and can even lead to serious gastrointestinal problems. The only exception from this is Xylitol, a sugar alcohol which is healthy for you because it has virtually no effect on blood sugar and insulin level. Still, it should be consumed in moderation.